Chapter 5
True to his word, Rahil and I rarely saw each other.
Occasionally, we crossed paths around mealtimes and exchanged polite pleasantries, but he never once imposed his company on me.
Every morning and evening, I would turn my mirror over to see Nadia, reassure her that I was doing well, and listen as she went on and on about her latest book, as there was nothing else for her to do in prison but read.
Rahil had been correct in assuming I would find his home fascinating.
The first time I opened a door expecting a normal-sized room, I was in for the shock of a lifetime.
Even though the rooms were side by side along the hallway, once I stepped through the door, the room stretched longer than the entire house, and it was rare that I could even see the back of whatever room I was entering.
The first door I tried opened into a vast forest, where I could walk for hours, yet the exit always appeared when I was ready to leave.
The library was stocked with more books than any one person could read in a dozen lifetimes and I found myself so overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices that I frequently passed it by. Nadia kept me up to date on enough books as it was.
But when I discovered the apothecary and alchemy room, I became obsessed and spent more than a full week inside, barely taking time to eat or sleep.
Shelves lined every wall, carved from dark, oiled wood and bowed slightly beneath the weight of thick books so old and brittle their spines crackled when touched.
Other books hovered open in midair, pages fluttering slowly as if searching for the right formula on their own.
Upon a polished table sat a tangled forest of glass: slender corked vials, fat-bellied flasks, spiraling tubes, and tall beakers that steamed with differently colored vapors.
Coils twisted between vessels, dripping with condensation or glowing faintly from within.
I lost no time in brewing up multiple different potions, most legal but several not, and squirreled tiny vials around my room and kept a few on my person in case of an unexpected attack or illness.
The apothecary had ingredients I’d never managed to find before, and I tried dozens of new potions, though at one point, I accidentally singed off my eyebrows in the process, which Rahil clearly noticed but didn’t mention until I regrew them the next day with a hair tonic.
Once certain I had enough potions to keep myself safe and protect Nadia once she was out of prison, I continued to explore the endless house of wonders.
There was a room of just pools that was breathtaking.
A waterfall cascaded down from the ceiling, churning up a massive pool down below, but then, smaller pools were sunken into the marble at staggered levels, each ringed in obsidian tiles so well polished they mirrored the water’s surface.
The uppermost pool steamed gently, heat curling upward in soft spirals, while the middle shimmered with a still, glassy coolness.
The lowest pool glowed faintly blue from within, cold enough to sting my skin and steal my breath.
Beyond that, there was a plant nursery, rooms filled with art supplies and musical instruments, a training arena with weapons, and one room filled with curious artifacts in glass boxes displayed in rows.
At night, I often visited the astronomy tower, where the walls were papered with maps displaying all the constellations.
I might not love my husband, and he might not love me or even spend more than a few minutes in my presence each day, but at least I was well entertained.
Amid all the variety of magic and mysteries that the house held, the menagerie quickly became one of my favorite rooms, particularly as I grew lonelier day by day.
As I rarely spoke to Rahil and only talked with Nadia in the mornings and evenings, I found it comforting to visit the animals housed in the large menagerie, and each of the animals always seemed delighted to have a visitor.
If only I had Nadia with me to share in the wonders of the house.
“You’d get along with my sister,” I told a chattering monkey, who immediately snatched my hairpin and bit it. “She’s a thief, too, and she would be in heaven living in a luxurious house like this.”
I kept counting down the days until Nadia would be released from prison. Anytime I told Nadia about the house I was living in or showed her bits of the rooms, she would slip in hints that she wanted to come live with me after she got out.
“You said he would be willing to let me stay,” she said once again. “It sounds wonderful.”
“We can’t trust Rahil,” I told her over and over. “There is something about him that just isn’t right. I can’t describe it, but I can tell.” But despite my protests, she was undeterred.
“You said he doesn’t even bother you; he just leaves you alone.
If he wants to throw his money away, who are we to not take it?
Alia, this is the easiest money ever. All you have to do is stay in his house so he keeps his inheritance and be married on paper.
There is literally no downside to this plan. ”
I couldn’t describe exactly why I felt so uneasy, but I did.
For a few hours every day, I continued to brew up different remedies and potions.
Some were medicinal so I didn’t end up ill and dying like some of Rahil’s previous wives, but others were brewed to be weapons, my favorite being scorpion sand.
The powder was meant to momentarily blind and disorient an opponent to give the victim time for escape, and I carried two vials of it in my pocket at all times.
I wanted to believe Rahil’s story, but also…I refused to be another of Rahil’s helpless victims if my suspicions turned out to be accurate.
As entertaining as the rest of the house was, with each passing day, my gaze was drawn to the forbidden door more and more often.
My guesses about what could be concealed behind the door became increasingly wild and outlandish.
Every time I saw it, it somehow seemed larger, like it was calling to me, begging me to open it.
It was just a door, and a rather shabby one at that. It shouldn’t have commanded my attention as often as it did.
Yet I couldn’t resist.
There had to be a reason he was so keen on hiding it, some reason that he didn’t want me to open it.
My first guess was that it held all of Rahil’s fabulous wealth, but I never saw him open it and he always had plenty of coin on hand.
Could it hold information about the other wives’ disappearances?
As convincing a story as he had told me, I still couldn’t shake the lingering suspicion that he was involved somehow.
Every time I was near him, my stomach would recoil, even though he otherwise seemed pleasant.
If I’d been asked to explain it, the closest I could say was that it was that indescribable sensation a woman got when she was near a man she knew was up to no good, but had no proof.
Each time I entered or exited my bedroom, I couldn’t help but look at the forbidden door, and each time, it felt like it was looking back, waiting and wanting to be opened.
It was almost as though I could hear voices calling me to them from behind the door, but anytime I stopped to listen, the imagined voices in my head would vanish.
On several occasions, I tried looking through the keyhole and under the door but only saw a vast, black expanse, as if not even light dared to enter the room.
A faintly metallic scent hovered around the door and the only thing I heard when I pressed my ear to the door was my own throbbing heartbeat.
Once, when I felt like I couldn’t bear the curiosity any longer, I tried the doorknob only to find it locked, just as Rahil had said it was.
What secrets was he hiding?
Days turned into weeks, or at least I thought they did.
Time behaved differently here, just as space seemed to fold in on itself within the rooms. Some days would rush past in a blur and other times stretched so that a single day felt like an eternity of loneliness.
On those days, the door pulled at me more than ever, tempting me past endurance.
I told Nadia about the door the evening before she was due to be released from prison. “Rahil is going to release you tomorrow,” I told her through the mirror. “But I’m not coming.”
“Why not?” There was hurt in Nadia’s voice. “Don’t you want to see me?”
I rolled my eyes. “You seem to forget that I’ve been stealing and dodging guards longer than you have, and they know I brew illegal potions.
The last thing we need is for me to be charged with a crime on the day you get released.
And besides”—I lowered my voice conspiratorially—“Rahil never leaves the house. Once he goes to sign the paperwork to free you, I’m going to break into that secret room.
Once I take a peek, I’ll run and we’ll meet at the worship center. ”
“No! Are you crazy?” Nadia hissed. “Just stay there and I’ll come to you! Alia, you can’t give up unlimited money; that’s insane. Who cares what’s behind some stupid door? You can’t give up all that wealth. Don’t you remember how we were always scraping for food and begging for a place to sleep?”
“I remember, I remember,” I grumbled. It was easy for Nadia to dismiss my wanting to know. She wasn’t the one who had to stare at the door each day.
“Promise me you won’t look,” she told me. “You finally have some good luck. Don’t throw it away. We don’t want to end up on the streets again.”
“No, we don’t want to end up on the streets again,” I said, nimbly sidestepping promising anything.
“And Rahil said he’s planning to give you some money and take you shopping before you come back here.
You can get clothes and whatever food you want.
It’ll be your best birthday ever. Isn’t that next week? ”
Despite the dim light in her cell, her eyes shone. “It is. I can’t believe it! Tomorrow, I’m going to dress like a princess and eat until I burst. Then I’ll come to your manor and you can show me the entire thing, and next week we can celebrate my birthday properly.”
“Deal,” I said with a smile. “Enjoy your last night in prison. Tomorrow’s the day.”
“Tomorrow,” she breathed happily, then the mirror went foggy.
I ran my finger along the mirror’s cool edge.
I had to know what was behind that door. I couldn’t stand not knowing. Who knew when I’d get another chance to look? Anytime I got close to the door, it always seemed like Rahil would be nearby.
All that night, I couldn’t sleep. Every time my eyes closed, I could only see the forbidden door and my mind began playing tricks on me, conjuring up images of things that could be behind it, each worse than the last. It wouldn’t ruin anything if I just took one quick look.
All I needed to do was swipe Rahil’s keys, look, then replace the keys before he returned.
I would have plenty of time.
“Did you not sleep well last night?” Rahil asked the next morning. He was pulling on his suit coat near the front door.
“Not really,” I said truthfully. “I was thinking about my sister.”
“I’m sure you’ll be glad to have her back. You’re certain you don’t want to come along?” He put another jeweled ring on his pinkie finger, as if determined to flaunt his wealth to the world anytime he left.
“Positive. My sister isn’t the only thief in our family. The guards know my face too well.”
He chuckled. “I can bribe any guards you want so they turn a blind eye. Just say the word.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I like doing things myself. Besides, Nadia will want time alone to shop. I think she likes the idea of actually having money to purchase things instead of stealing. That was generous of you to offer.”
He donned his hat. “I try to be a generous man. I’ll be back soon. Would you like me to bring you anything while I’m out? Do you have any letters you’d like me to deliver or something you want from the market?”
“No. I’ll just wait here for you and then for Nadia. There is a new potion I wanted to try to make in the alchemy room.”
“You and your potions,” he said fondly. For a moment, I thought he was about to lean in to kiss me goodbye and was glad when he held himself back. “Enjoy yourself. I’ll see you in an hour or two.”
“Goodbye.”
I watched him leave the house and stood at the door, waving until the carriage disappeared around the bend. The moment he was out of sight, I ran back into the house. I didn’t have long. As much as I knew that curiosity made people careless, I couldn’t stand waiting any longer.
It was time for answers.